Indians vs. Yankees Game 4: Live score updates and highlights from 2017 ALDS

The Astros put away the Red Sox in Game 4 and earned a spot in the ALCS: are the Indians right behind them? They have the opportunity to join Houston in the American League Championship Series, but they’ll have to get past Luis Severino and the Yankees to do so. Meanwhile, the Yankees were able to force Game 4 thanks to a Greg Bird homer and a stellar performance from Masahiro Tanaka, and they’ll need similar excellence on Monday in order to force a decisive Game 5.

We’ll be back to live blog at 7 p.m. ET, when Severino takes the mound to oppose short-rest Trevor Bauer and the Indians.

As usual, if you want to read from the beginning, scroll down to the “first inning” header and work your way back up. Or just start with us at 7 and refresh constantly and you’ll never be lost.

This is it! The Indians have just three outs left to prevent a Game 5. They’ll send Carlos Santana, Michael Brantley, and Lonnie Chisenhall to the plate against Kahnle. Aroldis Chapman is warming in case Cleveland gets any ideas about a comeback.

Santana gets caught looking on a pitch inside. Sanchez helped with the framing, but it was 99 and right on the border, and that’s tough to do anything with even if Santana had swung. Two outs left.

Michael Brantley doesn’t go on a check swing, but it doesn’t matter because the pitch was called a strike, anyway. Cleveland is down to their final out in Game 4, and we’re one out from a Game 5.

Here’s Lonnie Chisenhall, hitless in the ALDS and with three strikeouts already today. He swings and misses at a pitch in the dirt, and the Yankees force a Game 5 back in Cleveland. Join us again on Wednesday for another elimination game live blog!

Yan Gomes pinch-hits for Urshela against Dellin Betances, and he’ll be followed by the top of the order: Lindor and Kipnis. Betances nearly takes Gomes’ head off with a fastball that whizzed over his head — a clear accident, but still scary!

Gomes isn’t rattled, and draws a walk. Another ball to open the Lindor at-bat, and the pitching coach is out to talk with Betances. It didn’t help: Lindor walked on four pitches, and now the Indians have two runners on with no outs and Tommy Kahnle coming in to face Kipnis. Kipnis goes down on strikes, and here’s Jose Ramirez, just 2-for-16 in the ALDS.

Ramirez lifts a fly ball to right field, but Judge is under it, and they just might be wasting their best chance at narrowing this lead. Jay Bruce goes down on strikes, too, and yeah... Cleveland is in trouble, with just three outs left in the game and four runs to score.

Here’s Josh Tomlin, hoping he can use his control to keep the Yankees from continuing to pile up those pitches and runs. It worked, with Tomlin picking up three outs on 15 pitches while holding the Yankees scoreless.

Severino indeed comes back out to start the seventh inning, and the Indians are happy to help him out by flying out on the first pitch. Brantley and Chisenhall are still due up in the inning, with Severino at 93 pitches, so he should be able to finish this frame off if he can avoid trouble.

Michael Brantley is no longer hitless in the postseason, as he puts a grounder through the infield and into right. Severino remains in the game to face Chisenhall, who has struck out twice against the 23-year-old already.

Apparently it’s not just Brantley who was having some trouble:

Severino is still hitting triple-digits even though he’s at 107 pitches. Chisenhall was sat down with the last one of those, his third K of the evening. He’ll have to get Roberto Perez, who homered last time up, out to complete the inning.

The broadcast notes Hiroki Kuroda is the last Yankees’ starter to get to 10 strikeouts in the postseason. Luis Severino is at nine, likely facing his final batter. He won’t get it, but Perez grounded out, so he did get through seven innings. The Yankees are in a great place right now, and Game 5 feels imminent.

Cody Allen is in, as the Indians try to take advantage of the day off on Tuesday to get some work in for their closer. Also, they’re only down by four runs, so Allen keeping it to four is a thing that matters, too. He’ll face Frazier, Hicks, and Gardner in the bottom of the seventh.

The Allen plan is not working so well. The Yankees just have Cleveland’s number tonight: once again, Judge is up with multiple runners in scoring position, and there’s just one out. Judge struck out for the fourth time, but it was on a pitch well outside the zone, so it’s not entirely his fault. Still, protect the plate, big guy. A popup ends the inning and keeps Allen from adding to the Yankees’ lead.

Jaime Garcia and Tommy Kahnle are up in the Yankees’ bullpen. Severino is still out there, though, approaching his 90th pitch of the outing as the middle of the Cleveland order comes up.

Ramirez continues to look... not great this series. That’s strikeout number eight for Severino in the game. Severino even got Jay Bruce out, finishing off a 1-2-3 inning, so he could realistically come out for the seventh inning if Joe Girardi wants. Since that would help avoid Garcia coming in, that’s probably not a bad plan.

Urshela fields a grounder, and this time it doesn’t cause him bodily harm or end with a throw sailing over Santana at first. Urshela couldn’t catch the next one, though, because it was a homer to right for Gary Sanchez. 7-3, Yankees.

The score doesn’t completely cover why this game feels like it’s going to be a New York W. The Yankees have forced Indians’ pitchers to throw 143 pitches through 5-1/3, while Severino is at 82 through six completed frames. New York is making Cleveland work, waiting for their pitch, and it’s brought them seven runs.

There’s still a lot of game left, but every inning makes it feel more and more like Corey Kluber, Andrew Miller, and Cody Allen in Game 5 is the cure for what ails the Indians in Game 4. They’ll have to face CC Sabathia, so it won’t be easy, but neither will be coming back from down four runs against a team that’s just about to dip into their own super bullpen.

Lindor is taking that shortstop-as-field-general thing a little too seriously here, as he runs out into actual left field, not shallow left field, for an over-the-shoulder grab that probably would have been a lot easier for the actual left fielder. He caught it, at least, so the inning ends, and Cleveland’s lineup gets another shot in the seventh.

Roberto Perez just went deep to make it 5-3 New York — it’s worth remembering there is still a whole lot of game left. Severino is up to 78 pitches, so chances are good this is going to end up as a good, not great start. With the Yankees’ pen, that could still be more than enough to force a Game 5, but Severino will need to slow Cleveland’s bats the rest of the way.

Francisco Lindor hit a rocket toward second base, but Castro jumped and caught it to end the top of the fifth.

Danny Salazar just gave us a good reminder of why pitchers picking up a ball in play to throw it is terrifying, as he underthrew first base and let Todd Frazier aboard. Bryan Shaw is warmed in the pen, so Salazar can be lifted at the next real sign of trouble, which could come soon with the top of the order coming back soon.

Hicks moves Frazier to third base with a grounder, bringing up Brett Gardner. Tyler Olson is also warming in the pen, and here he comes to face the left-handed Gardner. Salazar ended up throwing 1-2/3 innings with three strikeouts, two walks, and no runs. That last figure will stick so long as Olson can strand Frazier at third.

Olson is having some trouble putting Gardner away: eventually, a shallow, lazy fly ball to center was hit, and it surprisingly scored Todd Frazier, who got around the tag. The Yankees tested the arm of Kipnis — in center but usually a second baseman — and Kipnis failed the test. 6-3 Yankees, and now here comes Bryan Shaw to face Aaron Judge.

You will be shocked, but Aaron Judge struck out — that’s his third of the game.

Severino has 63 pitches through 3-2/3 innings, and has looked basically flawless. Jay Bruce drew a walk against him this time, but unless this lineup gets a few more Jay Bruces in the next few innings, there might be trouble the rest of Severino’s start.

Or hey, maybe Carlos Santana can chip in with a two-run homer. 5-2 Yankees, thanks to Santana and Bruce, and Severino once again looks mortal-ish. That’s all Cleveland got in this inning, but hey, 40 percent of the lead just vanished in one swing.

Salazar walks Gregorius to begin the Yankees’ half of the fourth inning. Gary Sanchez strikes out, Bird flies out, and Salazar is close to escaping the inning unscathed despite the leadoff baserunner.

Nothing has been easy for Cleveland tonight, though, so Salazar walks Castro and now has to face Chase Headley with two on. Salazar is already at 26 pitches, too. Headley works a full count — sure feels like there have been a whole lot of those tonight. Salazar escaped with a called third strike inside, though, and Headley had a polite question for the umpire following that. It wasn’t pretty, but the Indians held the Yanks scoreless.

Blink and you missed the top of the third. Severino struck out Roberto Perez on four pitches, got Giovanny Urshela to ground out in four, and forced a Lindor fly out in three. Something tells me he’s going to be good tonight.

Mike Clevinger takes over for Smith, and he could be here for a while. Clevinger pitched in 27 games in 2017, 21 of them starts, throwing 121 innings. He begins things with a walk of Greg Bird, and Starlin Castro follows up with a double to center field.

Hey, I said Clevinger might be in for a while because it’s just the third inning and he was a starter, not because he’s great. Danny Salazar, on the other hand, is pretty alright, and he’s now warming in the pen: Terry Francona isn’t going to just give up on Game 4 this early by letting Clevinger take a beating, lengthy arm or no.

Clevinger walks Todd Frazier to load the bases, and there is still just the one out. Clevinger is certainly better than this, but so is Bauer, and so was Kluber: that doesn’t necessarily stop your opponent from taking advantage of your weaker moments. Now it’s Hicks with the bases juiced.

Clevinger gets a grounder, but to first, so no double play possibility existed. They were able to get the lead runner at home, though, so now there are two outs: the sac fly opportunities are gone, but the bases are still loaded, and Brett Gardner is up.

Gardner grounds to third, but the Indians can’t get him at first thanks to a poor throw by Urshela that pulled Carlos Santana off of the bag. It’s 5-0 Yankees, and that’s the end of Clevinger’s night. Enter Danny Salazar.

Salazar faces Judge with the bases loaded, which is not how anyone would choose to begin their appearance. You don’t always get to choose, though! And to Salazar’s credit, he struck Judge out to put an end to this nightmare frame.

Jay Bruce is so excited to not see a splitter or 103 mph fastball that he immediately sends a Luis Severino changeup into right field for a single. Carlos Santana then almost gets Bruce doubled off of first with a liner right to second, but Bruce hadn’t moved very far away from the bag, so he’s safe.

Michael Brantley is still the designated hitter with Edwin Encarnacion out. He’s done nothing in his stead, and all of this makes me sad. Remember when Brantley was low-key an MVP candidate before injuries destroyed his body and production? The postseason can be so uplifting sometimes.

A strikeout of Brantley does not help with the current sadness.

Here’s Lonnie Chisenhall, the former disappointing third baseman turned productive outfielder. Either FS1’s imaginary strike zone is way off, or this umpire has a super-wide zone and is very open to framing suggestions. In a related story, Lonnie Chisenhall is strikeout number three for Severino.

Bauer might be missing some spots, but his curveball looks like the pitch that helped him put the Yankees away with ease in Game 1, so he’s not helpless tonight. These full counts — Greg Bird got one just now — are going to catch up to Bauer eventually, however. Not this time, as Bird is out on an easy play.

Owwwww, Urshela just stopped Starlin Castro ball to third base, except not with his glove: his knee took all of that. It’s an error, but more important, the trainer is out to check on the noticeably limping defensive specialist. He’s staying in for now, but it’s something to keep an eye on.

Bauer just got a strikeout of Headley on a high fastball that the Yankee sure did not think was a strike. Headley certainly deserves credit for his discipline and eye, but that looked like a strike this time.

The next pitch bounced to the backstop, giving Castro a chance to advance to second while Todd Frazier now has a 1-0 count to work with.

Frazier lines a ball into the corner in left field, and it’s fair, and the Yankees are now up 1-0. That’s already more than they managed against Bauer the first time: it might not be a short night for Trevor, but it’s probably not going to be a long one.

Aaron Hicks doesn’t go around on a check swing, and then on the next pitch he dumps a ball into center field to make the game 2-0 Yankees. Maybe short rest for non-elite starters isn’t a good plan.

Brett Gardner hits a single to send Aaron Hicks to third, and Trevor Bauer just can’t seem to make this inning end. It’s time for a meeting at the mound with Aaron Judge coming up: Judge might be struggling, but Bauer is, too, and this is a plate appearance with some game-changing implications.

Gardner swipes second uncontested, so now Judge has two runners in scoring position. Of course, everyone is in scoring position when Judge is up.

Judge gets a hold of one to left, and it’s 4-0 Yankees in the second inning thanks to the big boy’s first hit of the ALDS. Trevor Bauer looks as bad as his favorite Star Wars movie, The Phantom Menace. Bauer is out of the game now, and reliever Joe Smith is coming in: it’s going to be a bullpen game for the Indians.

The inning is over! [looks at word count] okay maybe in the third inning you guys could do less

Luis Severino tied for the shortest postseason start in Yankees’ history in the AL Wild Card Game by surviving long enough to record one out against the Twins before he was lifted. He was clearly pumped up, and the extra adrenaline had him missing his spots, and then Minnesota was up and threatening further in a hurry.

Things should be different on Monday: it’s not Severino’s first postseason start, and he was the team’s ace during the regular season. Bad games can happen even to the best pitchers — see Sale, Chris and Kluber, Corey, just for some recent examples.

Oh, look, it’s raining in New York, too, because we didn’t get enough of that during the earlier ALDS game in Boston. Francisco Lindor kicks things off for the Indians in a stadium that’s certainly not full with the weather, but also certainly not quiet.

Lindor flied out after an eight-pitch at-bat, bringing up Jason Kipnis. Severino’s locating seems a lot better tonight than it did during the Wild Card Game. He’s definitely still pumped up, though, because he just threw a 92 mile per hour changeup. Kipnis goes down via the K, bringing up Jose Ramirez, who is not doing a great job of convincing new potential fans that he deserves to be in any MVP conversation.

That doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be in said conversation, by the way: I’m not on board with Bob Costas’ weird “include postseason play in MVP voting!” idea. It’s bad, folks. Just like Jose Ramirez’s ALDS so far, which most recently added a fly out to end the first.

Here comes Trevor Bauer, who was something of a gamble to start Game 1 over staff ace Kluber, but he acquitted himself well en route to an Indians’ shutout victory. Now Bauer gets Game 4 on short rest, and even though he thinks The Phantom Menace is the best Star Wars movie, he has a shot at making Cleveland look smart again. Brett Gardner helps my point in the short-term by striking out for the first out.

Aaron Judge would love a huge hit to break out of his series-long slump — he’s drawn some walks, but is yet to pick up a hit. Judge has picked up a whole bunch of full counts, at least, so he’s making pitchers work. It’s not nothing! It just looks like it when you see his ALDS line. P.S. Judge just struck out on a pitch at his eyes.

Here comes Didi Gregorius, and if he reaches, Bauer will see Gary Sanchez. I’m curious if Bauer is going to be allowed to throw a ton of pitches in Game 4 — he’s already reached two full counts, and Gregorius drew a walk to bring up Sanchez. Remember, Bauer is working on just three days’ rest. A first-pitch ground out keeps Bauer’s inning to 20 pitches, at least. He threw 98 in his first start, so he doesn’t have extra gas in his tank or anything.